19th century
visitors to Naples surely found architectural ‘déjà vu’ to be more stimulating.
The city’s major square Piazza del Plebiscito seems immediately familiar. The
flanking colonnades [Leopoldo Laperuta 1809] evoke St Peter’s Square yet
confusingly the centrepiece [Basilica de San Francesco de Paola (1817-46) by
Pietro Bianchi] is based on another Roman icon - the Pantheon.

Nearby the sheer
exuberance of Galleria Umberto I overcomes any surprise at finding Milan’s
magnificent Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (1868) cloned in Naples - thirty
years later. Again glazed arcades meet beneath a vast dome, with rich detailing
and mosaic patterns. In Milan they link Piazza del Duomo to Piazza della Scala.
The cruciform plan however seems less comfortable on the sloping site in Naples
as three entrances require steps. The main access opens from the west - Via
Toledo - with a secondary south entrance obliquely facing Teatro di San Carlo
behind an elaborate colonnaded crescent. This facade somewhat overwhelms its
historic neighbour which has enjoyed continuous service as a theatre since
1737.

The sheer abundance of
antiquity in Naples ensures familiarity which while not necessarily breeding
contempt does appear to condone irreverent re-workings. Castel Nouvo [1280]
displays numerous audacious architectural interventions, including five
additional gigantic towers [1450] and later the white frilly ‘triumphal arch’
jammed between two of these sombre silos. This flamboyance is credited to
Milanese architect Pietro di Martino with Catalan artists invited by Alfonso
d’Aragona whose conquest of the City is celebrated in the renaissance panels.

Castel Sant’Elmo has
dominated the Naples skyline since 1275. Initially as a residential palace but
later significantly reconfigured by Valencian military architect Pedro Luis
Escriva [1537] when he introduced his innovative hexagonal star perimeter to
form an impenetrable ‘stronghold’- possibly an inspiration for Adam’s Fort
George? Sant’Elmo became a jail for political prisoners in 1604 and a military
prison until 1952. Recent restoration revealed generations of incongruous
interventions but also introduced a lift, auditorium and library allowing the
building to join the Naples Museum Circuit in 1982. Sharing Vomero Hill is the
beautiful San Martino Monastic complex [1325] also intended to be impenetrable
- but in a different way. Both buildings now offer public access and present
sumptuous cultural treasures.

Castel dell’Ovo stands on
the tiny outcrop of Megaris which around three thousand years ago was part of
the Greek settlement of Parthenope which later became Neapolis. From this
foundation Naples became one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in
Europe. In the first century BC a Roman Patrician built his residential Castel
here, which was fortified six centuries later, and became a monastery in 492 AD
before being rebuilt as a fortification [11th century] and
restructured to its present form during the Spanish Viceroyalty [1504 – 1713].

Naples’ location exposed
it to influences and invasions from Greeks, Spanish, French, Saracens and even
the Roman Empire. The city also survived commercial and cultural invasions such
as the 18th century ‘volcano tourism’ illustrated in SNG’s
exhibition “Expanding Horizons”. Such
familiarity with invasions suggests that the current potentially damaging swell
in ‘cruise liner tourism’ may eventually be addressed with something more
positive than contempt.